Professionals and Amateurs Come Together for 'Brigadoon'

They say "it takes a village," and that's certainly true in West Hartford, where volunteers, amateur actors, dancers, and musicians, as well as several professionals, have joined together to create West Hartford Community Theater's version of "Brigadoon." Unlike West Hartford, which is always alive and busy, the show focuses on the mystical village of Brigadoon, which magically comes to life for just one day every 100 years.

West Hartford Community Theater (WHCT) was incorporated in 2007 with the goal of bringing high quality musical theater to West Hartford. It was the brainchild of graduates Bruce LaRoche and Maria Librio Judge and received the vital support of the West Hartford arts community. WHCT's previous productions of "Music Man" and "Oklahoma!" received rave reviews.

LaRoche is not only the founder of WHCT, he is also the artistic director of "Brigadoon" and performs in the lead role of Tommy Albright. The lead role of Fiona McLaren is played by Katie Meagher, a 2008 graduate of . Ryan Binder, an Actors' Equity Association member and former Broadway performer who has just launched a voice teaching studio in West Hartford (www.ryanbinder.com), plays Charlie Dalrymple.

Ed deGroat, a veteran teacher in the West Hartford Schools who founded the renowned string ensemble I Giovani Solisti, is the musical director and conductor of "Brigadoon's" pit orchestra. The show is directed by Robert Thornton and choreographed by Jennifer Bunger and Erica Bunger.

"The cast includes five lawyers, six teenagers and six children," said LaRoche, who did not claim that any of them posed a challenge to the show's success. Many of the cast members live and/or work in West Hartford. As a special surprise for local residents, the role of Frank is shared by popular West Hartford politicians Jonathan Harris and Scott Slifka. "I just called them up and asked them to do it," said LaRoche, who added, "I know that Jonathan's a ham!"

Slifka told me that this is his acting debut, and joked, "Jonathan has been a good sport and done this kind of thing before. This is all his fault!" Each will appear in two performances and have about 14 lines, in what Slifka calls "not a potted plant role, but definitely not a singing role." Slifka has no aspirations for future acting roles, although he admits that this has led to a cameo appearance in Ballet Theatre Company's performance of "The Nutcracker" this December.

The production runs from Thursday through Nov. 24 at the Auditorium. Ticket prices are $16 in advance or $21 at the door. For more information, visit www.whtheater.org.